Rafah: discover the city that is the last refuge for Palestinians in Gaza and understand its importance | World

The place is considered the last refuge for more than 1 million Palestinians from all regions of the Gaza Strip who had to abandon their homes and migrate to the south due to the war — the Israeli military campaign began in the north of the country and was going down.

On the other hand, Israel says Rafah, which borders Egypt, is Hamas’ last stronghold and therefore the last battlefront to complete your war against the terrorist group.

With the large number of refugees there, there is concern among the world community for the safety of refugeeswith a possible humanitarian disaster with deaths and the collapse of the humanitarian aid system installed in the city in the face of the invasion, according to the UN.

Since the start of the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, on October 7, 2023, the city has served as a gateway for humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and as an exit point for foreigners who were in Gaza and received authorization to leave the territory and hostages released by Hamas during the ceasefire in November 2023.

As the war progressed, Rafah began to receive many refugees and saw its population explode from around 280 thousand people to 1.5 million, who were provisionally located in tents. See the image below for a before and after view of the city.

The UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned last Friday (3) that the attack in Rafah “could cause a massacre”.

Rafah is the last city in Gaza, so refugees there are trapped by the border, because Egypt does not allow Palestinians to enter its territory, except in exceptional cases.

“We are extremely concerned about the fate of civilians in Rafah. People need to be protected, but we also do not want to see any mass forced displacement of people, which is, by definition, against their will. We would in no way support displacement forced, which goes against international law,” said Dujarric.

The United States, Israel’s main ally, is against the invasion of Rafah because an adequate humanitarian plan was not presented and without this it would not support Netanyahu’s attitude.

Benjamin Netanyahu believes that a military operation in Gaza is necessary for “total victory” over Hamas. According to Israeli authorities, Rafah is the terrorist group’s last remaining hideout in Gaza.

According to the Israelis, of the 24 Hamas battalions, 18 have been destroyed so far — the rest would be in Rafah.

Netanyahu has already told US President Joe Biden, his closest ally, that he is “determined to complete the elimination of these (Hamas) battalions in Rafah, and there is no other way to do that than by getting on the ground.”

According to the prime minister, his main goal is to end the terrorist group’s ability to carry out new attacks after the attack on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 people dead in Israel and led the country to declare war against Hamas.